All products eventually make their way out of circulation.
Every retail product, especially apparel products, will eventually be discarded. What happens after our products are discarded is of particular concern here at Big Bear. Our frames are manufactured using a biodegradable acetate, which will break down in a few years rather than the 100s of years plastic can take. We have some data on that too.
KM200015-01 (our acetate) vs. reference item (cellulose)
In SGS Certified controlled enviornment test, our acetate showed a biodegradation of three separate replicates of 56.7%, 56.7% and 53.9% after 150 days of testing. Meaning after 150 days it was more than halfway decomposed.
You can find the whole report here.
Fig. 7: The picture of KM200015-01 before test
Our acetate!
Fig. 8: The picture of KM200015-01 and compost before test
Add dirt.
Fig. 9: The picture of KM200015-01 and compost after test (150 days, mat-1)
Wait 150 days.
Fig. 10: The picture of washed KM200015-01 after test (150 day)
Wash and strain.
Now, realistically our glasses will take a bit longer than the small pellets used in our test to fully decompose, but a few years is far better than 500.
